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METER TPT 
Po at SPS Aa 
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$40 Epigrams, Fragments, and Fugitive Pieces, from the Greek. [May 1, 
over the Bulgarians, commanded by Za- 
bergan. The hiftory of our author has 
been cenfured, perhaps juftly,; as a dull 
and prolix declamation. Yet he is gene- 
rally allowed to maintain a refpectable 
place among the Byzantine hiftorians, and 
is peculiarly noticed for the mildneis and 
humanity of his fentiments. 
The whole feries of the fecond Gothic 
war had been completed by Procopius.—~ 
During the eventful reign of Juftiniao, 
Rome had five times changed  maiters, 
and was once more reftored to her lawful 
Emperor by the bravery of Narits. The 
times were big with ftratagems, indivi- 
dual deeds of heroifm, diftant migrations 
of Barbarians from the bleak-and unge- 
nia] North in queft of milder funs, the ha- 
voc of war and peftilence, and the con- 
vulfions of empires and of nature.*— 
Gibbon takes a reluctant leave of Proco- 
pius for Agathias. ‘“* We muft now (fays 
he) relinquifh a ftatefman and a foldier to 
attend the footfteps of a poet and a rheto- 
rician. The favage defcent of the Franks, 
under the twe brothers Buccelin and Lo- 
thaire, into the fair plains of Italy—the 
wild fuperftitions of their allies the Alle- 
manni, who facrificed the heads of horfes 
to their native deities of woods and ri- 
vers—are noticed by this even and placid 
writer in the ftrain of cool philofophy.— 
‘The Sybil’s cave, made venerable from 
its inmate, and the ancient dreams of in- 
{piration, is only mentioned with a view 
of afcertaining its {cite with accuracy ; 
and the fina) viétory gained by Narles on 
Ahe banks of the Vulturnus was only 
chofen to give point and ornament to an 
epigram of fix lines. Rome had fo fre- 
quently been fue feat of empire to bar- 
barous monarchs—had fo often crouched 
under the defpotifm and. indignities im- 
pofed on her by ftrangers—the theatre of 
her former viétories had in fuch nume- 
rous inftances reprefented the icenes of 
her difgrace and humiliation, that we are 
no Jcnger to expect from her hiftorians 
that awful regard, that holy -** admonitus 
locorum,” which is felt by the patriot 
while mufing over the hinours of his 
country.’ eee tn, 2 Om es 
Bui in defcribing the joy which diffufed 
itfelf over Italy, this writer was infer. Sbly 
betrayed into language fo nearly appioach- 
ing to poetry, that its refemblance to the 
opening ef Richard the Third could not 
* See an account of the earthquakes that 
- fhook Conftantinople inceflantly, and the 
comets waich appeared in the reign of Jufti- 
nian. R 
efcape the notice of Gibbon—«« Nothing 
(fays Agathias) remained for the Italians 
but to exchange their fhields and helmets 
for the foft lute and capacious hogfhead.” 
Agathias was one of the few remaining ** 
Greeks who made the ftudy of the ancienc 
language the bufinefs of thcir lives, and 
hence he obtained the name cf Scholafti- 
cus; for, among other encouragements 
held out to fupport the caufe of expiring 
literature, the names and titles of gram- 
marian and fcholar were applied to thofe 
who fignalized themielves. by fuccefsfal 
application to the works of their forefa- 
theis. 
In the tenth century, the manufciipts, 
from the combined effeéts of time, difeord, 
and fuperitition, were either nearly de- 
ftroyed, or falling quietly into oblivion.— 
Happily for the lovers of poefy, a perfon 
known to us by name only, embarked 
once more in the undertaking, and faved 
_ the veffe] that was going unnoticed down 
the ream of time to oblivion. This per- 
fon was Conitartinus Cepha'us, the friend 
and relation of the Em, eror Leo the Phi- 
Jofopher, fome of whofe whimfical_ pro- 
duéticns appear in the work. How fimall 
a fhare of literature and talent entitled a 
perfon in thefe days to public notice, we 
may eafily colleét from the honourable 
title conferred on Leo, whofe time appears 
to have been devoted to any thing rather 
than thofe purfuits from whence he dé- 
rived his precedence in name. 
Maximus Plan.des, a monk of the 
fourteenth century, was the laft colleGior. 
We are not to expect great elegance of . 
feleétion in a man of that age, and parti- 
culjarly in a monk ; and muf not be fur- 
prizedif many dull, and, to fay no worfe 
of them, unmeaning epigrams, of his 
taftelefs times, have a place in his work, 
to the exclufion of others recommended by 
elegance and antiquity. Two manifcit 
difadvantages appear in the arrangement 
of Planudes ; for, by doubly clafling the 
epigrams — firft, alphabetically ; and 
again, in order corre:ponding with their 
fnbjets, the mind is fatigued by the 
famencis of repetition, and the latter 
ages are confounded with thofe of purity. 
The edttio princeps of this Antbologia was 
that of Jan. Latcaris, accompanied by a 
Gieck Prologue of the editor, and a Latin 
Epifile to Pietro di Medici, printed at 
lorence, Augult 1494. ™ 
Pianudes turned with abhorrence from 
the many indelicacies that yet difgraced 
the work ; and, as Lafcaris fays of him 
in his Preface, ‘* Non magis difpofuit, 
quam mutilarit, et, ut ita dicam, caftra- ~— 
vit 
i. ad 
